Lancia Motor Club

If anyone has or, can kindly take a pic (close up) of an S1 Fulvia coupe pinon gear, it may solve the mystery of why my S1 starter pinon gear will not engage with my flywheel.

I have taken it apart, removed a 3 spacers at the end of the pinon (where it meets the busel) The only one left is this 

Pic of S1 pinon gear with the 1 spacer (the 3 spacers at the end of the pinon have been removed

Starter off again!

Excuse this dumb question!


With the starter out, I spun the pinon gear which freely turns but the armature does not. Should it?

I checked the pinon gear and there is some play when I move it up and down.

 Could the problem be that the pinon gear is not tight on the armature and therefore not turning to engage with the flywheel?

Many thanks.

Hi Andrew,
Does this help ?
The pinion will slide freely over the pinion shaft until it hits the double washer at the end of the shaft.
The washer is about 4 mm thick.
Kind regards,
Jan

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Thanks fot your help.

Turns out the solenoid is faulty.

Now I must source one!

Have it repaired?? As Ben says most things can be got apart.

Why do you think it is the solenoid?

"With the starter out, I spun the pinon gear which freely turns but the armature does not. Should it?"

I am probably missing something fundamental here but surely when the pinion slides into the starting position it should be fixed on the driving shaft of the starter motor or the engine won't be turned over. Didn't the solenoid ought to slide the pinion into engagement with the flywheel ring gear and complete the main starter circuit to turn the engine over?

If the solenoid slides the pinion along the shaft to the engaged position it would be doing what is required of it and if the motor spins the main starter motor contact is being made? If that is the case then the problem would surely be that the pinion gear isn't attached to the motor shaft, letting the motor spin without transmitting any movement to the pinion and thence the flywheel (roll pin or woodruff key perhaps)?

The solution would therefore be to establish what is supposed to fix the pinion onto the motor shaft and mend / replace it.

Frank T

Looking at the starter on my S2 Sport the connection between the motor armature and the pinion gear is via what I suspect is a roller clutch which locks the gear to the shaft when the starter is turning the engine but allows the engine to run away from the starter when the engine starts without overspeeding the starter motor.
If the starter motor spins but does not turn the pinion gear then this clutch or its connection to the shaft or the gear may have failed. This seems unlikely in the present case as Julian has reported trying a different armature and clutch/gear unit.

Ben

Ah, so the starter pinion wouldn't be spinning "freely", it would be spinning in just one direction, counter to the direction for starting the engine, but should be locking if turned the other way.

Frank T

Thank you all for your help.

Starter runs!  What had me foxed was that the pinon gear worked but didn't spin. Then I fiddled around and was just about to change the solenoid to an old starter I had but couldn't get the  solenoid 3 bolts off. So I tried the starter again and lo and behold, the pinon gear turned.

Better still, I got mybox type Bosch regulator working.

Thanks again.